James Mangold Directing Disney's Captain Nemo

Disney will go deep into the sea - and their film past - with a new prequel to 1954's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, the live-action adaptation of Jules Verne's classic novel. The film, tentatively titled Captain Nemo, is an origin story for the titular character. Nemo is a genius, an inventor who builds and pilots the submarine warship the Nautilus, and becomes quite the anti-hero in his story.

James Mangold has signed on to direct the film, which he'll do after the third Wolverine film, according to reports. The movie doesn't have any particular release scheduled, but Sebastian Gutierrez is currently working on a new draft of the script.

This is one of two movies in the 20,000 Leagues adaptation market in the work by X-Men movie directors. Bryan Singer and 20th Century Fox are working on 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, a new adaptation of the original novel with a script by Rick Sordelet and Dan Studney. The movie is due to start production fall 2016, giving Singer a break in X-Men team films after Apocalypse.